Tallon Griekspoor has spoken out after Jannik Sinner was forced to retire from their third-round match at the Shanghai Masters. The world No. 2 picked up a leg injury towards the end of the second set and appeared to be cramping in the third. By the time he called it quits, Sinner could barely walk and needed the physio’s help to leave the court in concerning scenes.
Griekspoor, who played an impressive match and saved all six break points he faced, advanced 6-7(3) 7-5 3-2 ret. and later admitted that he had also been struggling in the “brutal” conditions on what was a hot and humid night in Shanghai.
The Dutch tennis star said: “Very unfortunate ending to what I thought was a high-quality match.
“I thought first set we were both serving really, really well. Was not much to do on his serve and neither on mine. I thought he played a very, very high-level tiebreak where he hit a couple of lines, couple of aces, so not much to do there.
“Just very happy, content with how I stayed in the second set. Got a little bit lucky by saving that 0-40 on 4-3.
“Yeah, like I said, not the way you want to win, brutal conditions here. I wasn’t really fresh either myself. Yeah, I wish him a speedy recovery, and hopefully we see him back very soon.”
The brutally hot conditions in Shanghai have been a talking point during the first few days of the tournament, with players like Holger Rune also struggling and having their vitals checked during matches.
And the slower court speeds at this year’s Shanghai Masters aren’t helping matters. Coupled with the humidity, the balls are getting big and fluffy during matches, and it’s becoming harder for everyone to hit through.
While Griekspoor didn’t seem pleased with the slow courts, he confessed that it helped him to stay in the rallies with a tricky opponent like Sinner.
“I mean, the court is, the balls are extremely slow. The balls are like bowling balls, they’re so big, especially in the night. So, after a couple of games when they’re getting older there’s not much to do,” he explained.
“Even though I think we’re both guys who can hit through the ball, through the court, but very, very difficult to do so here in the evening.
“Yeah, like I said, I felt comfortable in the rallies today against him. I felt like he couldn’t really put me away in one, two shots. Yeah, like I said, pleased with the way how I did it.”
Griekspoor now faces Valentin Vacherot, the Monagasque qualifier ranked down at No. 204 in the world. Meanwhile, Sinner has less than two weeks to recover in time for the Six Kings Slam exhibition in Saudi Arabia.